NCsoft has announced that preorders for its latest MMO, Aion, are nearing 400,000 ahead of its western launch next week.
Previously known as Aion: The Tower Of Eternity, the game was released in Korea in November 2008 and in Japan and Taiwan in July 2009. It has enjoyed notable success in Asia, helping drive strong growth for South Korea-based NCsoft in the first and second fiscal quarters.
“Unlike many Eastern MMO imports, Aion has been uniquely designed to appeal to Western audiences,” the publisher said. “Along with a completely rewritten storyline spanning more than two-million words, players will experience enhanced character customisation with a host of Western styles, new zones, instances, skills, quests and continued game balancing.”
The game will officially launch on September 22 in the US and three days later in Europe.
NCsoft has also announced that it is to close its first free-to-play game, the multiplayer RPG Dungeon Runners, on New Year's Eve 2009.
Producer and lead programmer Stephen Nichols said that the title “just isn't cutting the mustard” a little over two years after launching. “If she were a ship, she'd be taking on water … The game just isn't profitable. And the first rule of business is to be profitable.”
The Dungeon Runners development team, based in NCsoft's Austin, Texas office, has seen a number of cutbacks since the firm’s North American division underwent significant restructuring late last year.
“We've been trying to figure out how to fix things for some time now. And, that's where things get sticky,” Nichols added. “We've got some ideas that could work. But, they're expensive to implement and pretty risky. Those two facts, coupled with the recent loss of some key developers, make achieving the success we seek pretty much out of the question.
“As things stand now, we're a three man team. Yeah, we lost two of our five man team recently. Not nearly enough manpower to get where we need to be. Rebuilding the team isn't really an option for various reasons.”